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(11-08-2016, 09:00 AM)LesPio Wrote: The Waterloo Costco is now officially open. They had the CTV news crew there, along with dignitaries such as Region of Waterloo Chair Ken Seiling. I found that it was spacious and the layout is the exact opposite of the Kitchener store. I'm hoping it will change my shopping experience as I find the Kitchener store crowded with rude people that appear to be in a hurry. Let's hope the rude one's stay in Kitchener.

A friend posted a video to facebook of the traffic backlog that ran all the way down Erb St to Ira Needles, tying up the roundabout there.

Look at the main entrance into the plaza. There's a short road that promptly hits a 3-way stop, and every car has to go through there in order to filter (slowly) to the primary parking lot. It seems to be not too difficult for enough cars to arrive at once that they begin to back up onto Erb, and eventually obstruct through traffic on Erb.

The parking lot to the south of that east-west parking road is not yet developed, and will provide a minor amount of relief, but not much.

Oh goodness. It seems like a no-brainer to me, to turn the costco building 90 degrees, so that the front of it lines up with the entry road, and put all the parking in one lot. Sometimes parking lot design is so terrible, I have to wonder.

(11-08-2016, 02:34 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Oh goodness. It seems like a no-brainer to me, to turn the costco building 90 degrees, so that the front of it lines up with the entry road, and put all the parking in one lot. Sometimes parking lot design is so terrible, I have to wonder.

It occurs to me that if they put in a slip lane on the far right of the property, so that cars can enter from Erb directly into that gas station outflow lane, it would solve a lot of capacity issues. Cars could flow right to the Costco part of the parking lot. It would also encourage a one-way flow of traffic through the site, which is much more efficient.

The huge traffic will likely be a short term problem. Remember when they opened the Outlet Mall at the 401 and Trafalgar Road. There was gridlock on the 401 with people visiting there the first few months.

(11-08-2016, 02:34 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Oh goodness. It seems like a no-brainer to me, to turn the costco building 90 degrees, so that the front of it lines up with the entry road, and put all the parking in one lot. Sometimes parking lot design is so terrible, I have to wonder.

It occurs to me that if they put in a slip lane on the far right of the property, so that cars can enter from Erb directly into that gas station outflow lane, it would solve a lot of capacity issues. Cars could flow right to the Costco part of the parking lot. It would also encourage a one-way flow of traffic through the site, which is much more efficient.

It would have required quite the earthmoving undertaking, as relative to Erb St the gas station is on quite the hill, if memory serves.

(11-08-2016, 05:14 PM)jamincan Wrote: Apparently they have sales associated with the opening, so they are likely drawing people from all over the region.

Which is somewhat funny, as the exact same sales were available when I stopped in at the near-empty Guelph Costco on Tuesday night.
To add insult to injury, the rotisserie chicken counter had their hot shelves completely full and they were about to pull out another round of birds as I walked by...

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Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides a news reporting service, opportunities for event promotion and other user-driven content complemented by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.